The following is a statement Illinois Farm Bureau® Vice President Brian Duncan regarding the call to change the Illinois congressional and state legislative redistricting processes. Illinois Farm Bureau joins with the Fair Map coalition to urge the General Assembly to approve HJRCA 43 and SJRCA 26.

“We are excited today to call upon the Illinois House and Senate to pass these two proposals to give the voters of Illinois the opportunity to bring an unbiased redistricting process to our state.

“The proposed constitutional amendments would create a balanced and independent redistricting commission that is desperately needed. The 16-member commission would give the citizens of Illinois an opportunity to provide input on proposed redistricting plans before they are adopted.

“Illinois Farm Bureau members have long supported the creation of an unbiased third-party redistricting process. We have supported numerous citizen initiatives over the past ten years, most recently supporting the voter initiative in 2016 that garnered more than 560,000 signatures to place it on the ballot.

“Illinois Farm Bureau fully supports these two constitutional amendments and implores the Illinois General Assembly to approve these for the November 2018 ballot.â€